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The Oracle Network Computer

INTRODUCTION WHO WILL USE THE NC? ORACLE - LEADING THE WAY HOW THE NC WORKS

INTRODUCTION

What is the Network Computer (NC)?

The Network ComputerĒ also branded the NCĒ is a set of appliances based upon open standards for networked computing and communications. The NC provides inexpensive Internet/World Wide Web access and applications for a wide range of users in businesses, educational institutions, consumers and developing countries. The Network Computer truly redefines what a computer should be: small, inexpensive, easy to use, and without the complexity and cost associated with today's personal computers (PCs).

The NC builds on the Internet, the World Wide Web, and corporate "Intranets." The NC itself will cost as little as $500. It automatically downloads most or all of the necessary software from servers over a network. This means that as an NC user, you never have to worry about disk backups or file recoveries, and you can access information from anywhere - not just from your own PC. Data encryption technology is in place to ensure privacy and security. And, because the software and files are stored on a server rather than on an individual PC, you always get the most recent version of everything - from data to application software - virtually eliminating the complicated, costly tasks of software acquisition, installation, administration, and maintenance.

A Family of Network Devices

The NC is a fully-functional, multimedia appliance that supports Web browsing, electronic mail, word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation graphics. The NC receives its software from a central server and can be applied in a number of ways to form a "family" of network devices that support these simple tasks just as well, or better than the PC.

The initial members of the NC family are:

* The standard desktop NC -- designed for use with a keyboard and monitor in the office, or a keyboard and TV in the home. Designed for Web browsing, electronic mail, light word processing, simple spreadsheets, and presentation graphics. * The NC TV -- designed for Web access, interactive TV, and common applications, such as entertainment-on-demand, gaming and electronic commerce. * The NC phone -- a screen phone with a keyboard for accessing electronic mail and services such as online yellow pages and travel reservations. This NC is designed more for the desk than for the living room.

WHO WILL USE THE NC?

Corporations

Most users, including those in corporations, have PCs to perform simple tasks like database and Web access, word processing, spreadsheets, and e-mail.

Market research suggests that the NC can potentially replace up to 50 to 70 percent of the PCs now in place in corporations. Even though the corporate NC may be equipped with larger monitors and more memory than a typical home model, it will have a lower acquisition cost than a PC. More importantly, corporations can drastically reduce by 70% their administration, support and training costs (estimated to be from $5,000 to $8,000 USD per year, per PC).

The Corporate NC can be integrated into corporate Webs (Intranets) on existing LANs, peacefully coexisting on the same networks with the conventional PCs required by power-users.

Consumers

For the average consumer, telecommuter or home student, a device that is as easy to buy and set up as a telephone and provides simple access to many different services is an extremely attractive option. Whether a computer-literate user wants better multimedia capabilities or a second machine for accessing the Web, or a person who has never used a computer wants a less daunting way to explore the Web and communicate electronically, the NC is an inexpensive and easy-to-use solution. Typically plugged into a TV in the den or a hotel room, or to a monitor or small TV on a desk or kitchen table, the NC holds tremendous promise for making computing available to everyone.

Education

In schools, acquisition costs present the most difficult hurdle to realizing the dream of placing a computer on every student's desk. Many schools are attempting to recycle old PCs for student use, but are hampered by problems of inconsistency, software compatibility, ongoing support, and administrative overhead.

Imagine the educational system if every student had a low-cost NC supported by a vast server network. Students and teachers would have access to on-line research and textbooks, up-to-date news information, the Web, and e-mail. The development of more cost-effective wireless transmission methods for feeding the NC to a whole classroom creates all of these extraordinary and exciting possibilities.

Developing Countries

Many developing countries with increasing needs for low-cost communications and computing infrastructures will benefit from the NC. With a lower cost of ownership than a PC, the NC offers to bring these countries to full participation in the worldwide Internet community in a relatively short time, perhaps 5 years or less, as opposed to the 10 or more it would take with PCs.

ORACLE -- LEADING THE WAY WITH INTERNET STANDARDS

Is Oracle Building the NC?

Oracle is not a hardware provider and won't build the NC. Rather Oracle's role is to turn the NC concept into reality based upon the emerging Internet standards.

Distribution Model

Oracle will license the NC reference designs and system software to manufacturers, and promote the NC concept through a vigorous branding campaign. Oracle's intent is to promote the NC as a standard for compatibility and portability with the Internet applications and content. The manufacturers will build the devices and sell them with end-user licenses. Oracle will specify certain compliance requirements for licensees, but will leave considerable leeway for vendors to develop a variation of the NC which is differentiated by features and proposed uses. This might include more RAM, wireless keyboards, disk drives for caching more data locally, different qualities of screen displays, built-in Ethernet cards and modems, or even more powerful processors.

HOW THE NC WORKS

Built to Comply with Internet Standards

Many different kinds of data are available over the Internet, from text and pictures to video and audio to structured data stored in database tables and rows. The NC's Web browser supports all of the standard technologies that allow these types of data to be retrieved (including HTML, Java, audio and video encoders/decoders, real audio for telephones, WAVE files, and AVI files). All of these standards are stored in ROM on the NC or downloaded from the network on an as-needed basis.

Adherence to common Internet standards is key, because it allows developers to create applications that will run on any platform, especially the NC.

Basic NC Hardware

The NC consists of a Central Processing Unit, at least four megabytes of memory, a network interface, I/O interfaces, and a way to establish network service.

Central Processing Unit

For the initial prototype of the NC, the CPU used was the ARM 7500 processor, a multimedia, 32-bit RISC chip with performance equivalent to a 66 MHz Intel 486. The ARM 7500 is a highly integrated silicon package that incorporates many functions that have been handled separately from the CPU chip: video and I/O subsystems, keyboard input, audio capability, memory bus, network graphics, etc.

Network Interface

The NC supports standard network interfaces: 28.8 megabit/sec modems, Ethernet (both twisted-pair 10-BaseT and coax 10-Base2), 25 megabit/sec ATM (for corporate installations), high-speed E1 and T1 telephone lines, and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Networks).

Input/Output Interface

The NC supports keyboards, mice, joysticks, microphones, headphones, speakers and infrared remote interfaces. The infrared connectivity is especially useful to home users, eliminating the need for cables stretching across the living room from the NC to the TV.

Television Viewing

The NC has connections for VGA and Super VGA used with most PCs, as well as for home televisions (both the NTSC standard used in the U.S. and the European PAL standard). The NC also employs "anti-twitter" support in software to compensate for the difference between computer and TV display technology.

Smart Card Technology for Security

The NC employs a "smart card" interface to identify and authorize the user on the NC. The smart card is the same type currently being advertised and used for "digital cash," and looks exactly like today's credit or ATM cards. However, the smart card also contains a small, highly secure, silicon chip to store information. Each NC user will have a unique smart card to identify themselves to the network. The smart card will also have a Personal Identification Number (PIN), like an ATM card, to protect against theft or unauthorized use.

The information stored on the smart card's chip will include the username and password of the NC user, as well as information about the service used by that card holder. For consumers, this service information might be in the form of the name of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the local phone number used to access that ISP. For corporate users, the service information would be the name and IP address of the server where the user's files are stored. An encryption key unique to the card holder is stored on each card, enabling network servers to verify with certainty the identity of the user and thus provide secure access to data and files on the network.

This ability to store information about the user will allow the holder of the smart card to access files securely from the NC - eventually even those located in other states or countries. Because data can be written to and updated on the card, it can also store information about what that user was doing the last time an NC was used, and return the user to that same place next time he plugs it into an NC.

The information stored on the smart card is highly secure. Strict interfaces are published that specify exactly how data can be written to and read from the card. Any attempt to break these rules results in the card erasing itself, protecting the data from theft. Similarly, entering a wrong PIN a certain number of times in a row also causes the data to be erased. While this may prove occasionally to be an inconvenience, the offsetting benefit -- protection against an impostor stealing a smart card to masquerade as the legitimate owner -- is of great value.

The Network Computer April 1996 Copyright © Oracle Corporation 1996 All Rights Reserved Printed in the U.S.A.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. Enabling the Information Age, and Oracle7, are trademarks, of Oracle Corporation. All other company and product names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 1996 Oracle Corporation. All Rights Reserved.